World in Brief, Sept. 30, 2011

Published: September 30, 2011 7:59 AM

SANAA, Yemen (AP) The Yemeni government has released an official statement saying the U.S.-born al-Qaida cleric Anwar al-Awlaki has been killed.

The government says al-Awlaki was targeted and killed 5 miles (8 kilometers) from the town of Khashef in the Province of al-Jawf. The town is located 87 miles (140 kilometers) east of the capital Sanaa.

The statement says the operation was launched on Friday around 9:55 a.m. It gave no other details.

If the death is confirmed, al-Awlaki would be the most prominent al-Qaida figure to be killed since Osama bin Laden's death in a U.S. raid in Pakistan in May.

[Article continues below]

___

At epicenter of deadly listeria outbreak, a farm town shares nation's puzzlement and fear

HOLLY, Colo. (AP) Eric Jensen surveys his dusty cantaloupe field and seems equally stunned and puzzled at the fate that has befallen his crop: row upon row of melons rotting on the vine.

Jensen is the co-owner of the Colorado farm where health officials say a national listeria outbreak originated, making his withering fields the epicenter of a food scare that has sickened dozens of people from Wyoming to Maryland and caused 16 deaths.

Jensen has no idea how his cantaloupes became infected, and neither do the Food and Drug Administration investigators who have intermittently been in this town of 800 people near the Kansas border since the outbreak started earlier this month.

[Article continues below]

Regardless of how it happened, the situation has left the town and farm reeling and in fear. Jensen had to quit growing and shipping cantaloupes after the outbreak was discovered a staggering blow to a region where cantaloupe has always been a proud local tradition.

Until the listeria infections started showing up, Holly's field workers would bring melons into town to share, just as they have for generations. And it wasn't uncommon for Holly residents to stop by Jensen Farms to buy freshly picked cantaloupe. Now, not even the local grocery store has any of the fruit.

___

Iran's crisis tips for Syria: Save the regime and the Tehran-Damascus alliance

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Two weeks after Egypt's uprising swept aside Hosni Mubarak, the presidents of Iran and Syria stood side by side in Damascus in a blunt message to the Arab Spring: The Syrian regime can count on its allies in Tehran.

Seven months later and after at least 2,700 deaths in Syria Iran is tweaking its big brother role for Syrian President Bashar Assad. The Iranian leaders are now urging him to consider talks with protesters or risk heading down a path with few escape routes.

It's Tehran's version of tough love: Pressing Assad to do what it takes to stay in power and preserve one of Iran's most important relationship in the Middle East.

You have a decades-old strategic alliance on the ropes, said David Schenker, a Syrian affairs analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. No doubt Iran is very concerned.

But Assad appears to be following his own rules in trying to ride out a mass revolt that has now spread into the security forces. Government troops have waged relentless crackdowns on opposition protesters, as well as police and soldiers who have turned against the crackdown.

WASHINGTON (AP) Federal regulators bowed to pressure from big banks seeking a quick exit from the financial bailout program and did not uniformly apply the government's own conditions set for repaying the taxpayer funds, a new watchdog report says.

The report was issued Friday by the office of Christy Romero, the acting special inspector general for the $400 billion taxpayer bailout of the financial industry and automakers. It found that regulators, to varying degrees, bent to pressure from the banks in late 2009 and relaxed the requirements put in only weeks earlier.

The regulators also were motivated by a desire to cut the government's stake in the banks it had bailed out in September 2008 when the financial crisis struck, the report says.

Meanwhile, the banks wanted to get out quickly from the so-called Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, because they wanted to avoid its limits on executive compensation and the stigma associated with receiving rescue money, according to the report.

The report focused on the sales of stock to raise capital and bailout repayments by four major banks: Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc., which each received $45 billion from the government; Wells Fargo & Co., which received $25 billion; and PNC Financial Services Group Inc., which got $7.6 billion.

___

Incoming chairman of Joint Chiefs says economy is just 1 of 3 pillars of US power

WASHINGTON (AP) Even before taking over as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest military office in the land, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey made one thing clear. He differs with his predecessor on one of the most important issues of the day: the threat posed to national security by a growing national debt.

Dempsey was to be sworn in Friday as successor to Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, who is retiring. At his Senate confirmation hearing in July, Dempsey was asked whether he agrees with Mullen's oft-repeated assertion that the debt crisis is the single biggest threat to American national security.

I don't agree exactly with that, Dempsey said.

In his view, developed in the course of a 37-year career that includes two tours of command in Iraq and one in Saudi Arabia, American global power and influence are derived from three strengths: military, diplomatic and economic.

You can't pick or choose, he said; none of the three is paramount.

___

Republican activists say they'll back Romney eventually; for now they'd like someone else

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) Listen to Republican voters and you're likely to hear a reluctance to embrace Mitt Romney's White House bid. At least at first.

The same voters just as readily acknowledge that he might be the Republicans' best chance to defeat President Barack Obama. And that may explain why the former Massachusetts governor isn't sweating even as the buzz revolves around others.

I'll probably wind up with Romney because, more than anything, what I want to do is to defeat Obama, says Doyle Thomas, a 70-year-old retired attorney from rural Cross City, Fla.

Not that he'll be happy about having to vote for the former Massachusetts governor.

You can't tell me that Romney is a conservative and was able to be elected in Massachusetts, Thomas adds, shaking his head. If he were a conservative, there's no way he could have won.

___

Myanmar president calls for halt to construction of controversial Chinese-backed dam

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) Myanmar's president called Friday for a halt to construction of a controversial Chinese-backed hydroelectric dam in the country's north, a move that had been called for by the country's pro-democracy movement.

President Thein Sein said in a note read out in parliament that construction of the $3.6 billion Myitsone dam project in Kachin state should be suspended. The call is tantamount to suspension, since the government holds a large and well-disciplined majority in parliament.

The move will be welcomed by environmentalists and social activists who had claimed the project would displace many villagers and upset the ecology of the important food source, the Irrawaddy River, on which it was to be situated.

The political ramifications are equally large, as it marks a rare meeting of the minds between the military-dominated government and the country's pro-democracy movement. It also marks a rare difference in relations with China, a key ally for diplomatically isolated Myanmar.

In August pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi joined forces with those opposing the dam, bringing a new and potentially powerful issue into the opposition fold.

___

Testimony from paramedics expected in manslaughter trial of Jackson's doctor

LOS ANGELES (AP) Paramedics who responded to Michael Jackson's mansion the day he died were expected to testify Friday in the trial of the pop star's doctor who has been charged with involuntary manslaughter.

Martin Blount and Richard Senneff had previously testified at a preliminary hearing that Dr. Conrad Murray never mentioned giving Jackson the powerful anesthetic propofol and told them the singer lost consciousness moments before an ambulance was called. Both men believed the singer had died by the time they arrived in June 2009, but Murray insisted the performer be taken to a hospital for more resuscitation efforts.

The prosecution witnesses will likely provide jurors more insight into Jackson's final moments as futile attempts were made to revive the unresponsive superstar as the trial enters its fourth day.

On Thursday, a pair of Jackson staffers described the chaotic scene at the rented mansion. Personal chef Kai Chase said she was preparing a spinach Cobb salad for Jackson when a panicked and flustered Murray came down a spiral staircase shouting for her to get security and the singer's son, Prince.

His energy was very nervous and frantic, said Chase, who added she ran to get Jackson's son in a nearby room. I said, 'Hurry, Dr. Murray needs you. Something may be wrong with your father.

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) A tropical storm barreled toward Vietnam Friday, forcing 20,000 people to be evacuated, as the Philippines braced for a new typhoon and several Asian countries reeled under floods after some of the wildest weather this summer.

Prolonged monsoon flooding, typhoons and storms have wreaked untold havoc in the region, leaving more than 600 people dead or missing in India, Thailand, Philippines, Japan, China, Pakistan and Vietnam in the last four months. In India alone, the damage is estimated to be worth $1 billion, with the worst-hit Orissa state accounting for $726 million.

The state-run Indian Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology said several studies suggest an intensification of the Asian summer monsoon rainfall with increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. Still, it is not clear that this is entirely because of climate change, especially in India, it said.

After pummeling the Philippines and China this week, Typhoon Nesat was downgraded to tropical storm as it headed toward Vietnam where it was expected to make landfall later Friday with sustained wind speeds of up to 73 mph (118 kph), according to the national weather forecasting center.

Heavy rains were reported in northern and central areas, and warnings were issued for flash floods in low-lying areas and for landslides in mountainous regions. High winds whipped through the capital Hanoi's streets.

___

With clock running down, NBA owners, players have a weekend to find a deal to end the lockout

NEW YORK (AP) They don't have a deal yet, and they are just about out of time.

After some two years of on-and-off negotiations, that's about all NBA players and owners agree on. The gaps in their financial proposals have been so great that they sometimes decide it's best to just talk about something else.

Now they have to figure it out quickly. Without at least getting very close to the framework of a new collective bargaining agreement this weekend, hopes of the 2011-12 season starting on time would be all but lost.

We realize that the calendar, the clock, the watch, whatever you want to say, is running out in terms of starting our regular season on time. So we're going to try to get some things done this weekend and see what we can do, said the Lakers' Derek Fisher, president of the players' association.

The owners' labor relations committee and the union's executive committee perhaps joined by some All-Stars will meet Friday and have committed to keep talking throughout the weekend. Both sides have cautioned that bringing back the large groups after as series of discussions among smaller parties doesn't mean they are close, but rather that more voices are required to consider the crucial decisions.